Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1887-07-02
THE RUSSIAN SERFS.
A Reactionary Movement Having In Wow
Their Reimbursement.

Their Reimbursement.
1t is now aquarter of a century since
Russia emancipated 22,000,0 900 serfs.
There has as yet been no evidence adj
duced that the step vas not Il wise one.
The manumitted class has made con-
siderable intellectual and material pro-
greSs. which would not have been pos
sible under the old conditions. So far
as known, the Government has not re-
GREETED its act of mercy. 1t seems,
therefore, all the stranger that a pro-
ject has been submitted to the council
of the empire for the virtual re-enslave-
ment of millions of Russia peasants.
The exact nature of the scheme has not
been made clear, but if it be carried
out, the class affected will become sub
ject to new functionaries, who will pos
sess the power of intlicting penalties
and Imprisonment without the victims
having the right of appeal to any tri-
bunal. Count Tolstoi, who is the orig
inator of the scheme, shows his utter
heartlessncss by explainingthat a neces-
sity has arisen for subiugating the
peasants because they have begun to
realize that they have rights.
1t is probable that a majority
of the council will vote against
the inhuman plan, but fears are
expressed that the measure may be ap-
proved by the Gar. That is not UNI
likely. Alexander Ill, unless he has
been grossly misreprcsented, is a fit
agent for re-enslaving the men and
women who were so mercifully freed
by the manifesto of 1861. In conncc-
ton with this subject it is worthy of
note that the present year is to witness
the consummation of the emancipa-
ton acts of 1861 and 1866, and that
from this year the peasants of the
crown may hold their land as owners.
BY the act of 1861 there was to be no
compulsion upon the owner to sell his
property, but when Il negotiation had
been entered into between him and his
tenants with regard to such sale, the
only obstacle to Il satisfactory arrange
mcnt was n disagreement us to price
and the method of payment. then, on
the demand of the owner. the State
stepped in as final arbitrator. = y
The tenants formerly serfs of the
crown were specially treated by a law
promulgated OF the oath of November,
1866. This class was therein privileged
to claim the ownership of the land they
occupied, and the only formality re-
quircd was Il %pecuniary payment of
one hundred rubles-a sum it was
not necessary to exceed even when
a commune applied for powert to redeem
many parcels ofland. The rent was to be
capitalized at the rate of five per cent.
and repaid by annual installmentsin the
same manner and for the same term as
by the tenants on private lands, credit
being allowed them at the rate of five
per cent. for the initial payment of one
hundred rublcs. So far it had been u
question of optional redemption, but in
1881, when eighty per cent. of the peas
ants had become proprietors, it was de-
creed to enforce the change of tenure
upon the remainder; that is to say, to
make them responsible to the State for
their yearly payments. 1t was not UNI
til May, 1885. that the compulsory prin-
ciplc was extended to the tenants of the
crown, and by a clause of n law of that
date the 3lst of December, 1886, was
named as the day on which the old or
der of things should cease absolutely.
The change from n mutable rent to II
fixed and terminal series of payments
ought to be to the advantage of the ten
ants, and so it would seem to be from
the fact that the operation is expected
to cause a loss to the budget of 4,0O0,-
600 rublcs annually. 1t would certain
ly be most unreasonable for Russia to
adopt the Tolstoi scheme, so wholly at
variance with the spirit of cmancipa-
ton, and that during the very year
when so large a portion of the once en-
| shaved class is just beginning to enter
IN the fruition of the new order of
| nrs- BOSfOu TroreIor